Bridge The Gulf Project - facing southhttp://bridgethegulfproject.org/taxonomy/term/158
enKoch Industries plant linked to cancer epidemic in Arkansas community (video)http://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2011/koch-industries-plant-linked-cancer-epidemic-arkansas-community-video
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p><img src="http://www.southernstudies.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/image_full_node/images/koch_pollution_video_still.png" width="250" height="138" style="float: right; margin: 8px;" /><em><a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/10/koch-industries-plant-linked-to-cancer-epidemic-in-arkansas-community-video.html">Crossposted from Facing South</a>. </em>A <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZWAQ_3yoj8&amp;feature=player_embedded#%21">new video</a> from Brave New Films is drawing attention to an unusual number of cancer cases and other serious health problems in an Arkansas community next to an industrial facility owned by Koch Industries. The Kansas-based oil and chemical conglomerate is owned by the billionaire Koch brothers, who've spent millions of their fortune fighting environmental regulation.</p>
<p> The plant in question is a Georgia-Pacific mill in Crossett, Ark. that produces bleached paperboard products. Koch Industries acquired Georgia-Pacific in 2005.</p>
<p> According to the facility's latest <a href="http://iaspub.epa.gov/triexplorer/release_fac?p_view=COFA&amp;trilib=TRIQ1&amp;TAB_RPT=1&amp;Fedcode=&amp;LINESPP=&amp;sort=E2&amp;industry=ALL&amp;FLD=E41&amp;FLD=E51A&amp;FLD=E51B&amp;FLD=STONDISP&amp;ONDISPD=Y&amp;FLD=E1&amp;FLD=E2&amp;FLD=E3&amp;FLD=E42&amp;FLD=E52&amp;FLD=E53A&amp;FLD=E53B&amp;FLD=E54&amp;FLD=STOTHDIS&amp;OTHDISPD=Y&amp;FLD=M81&amp;FLD=M65&amp;FLD=M64&amp;FLD=STOFFDIS&amp;OTHDISPD=Y&amp;FLD=RELLBY&amp;FLD=RE_TOLBY&amp;FLD=RE_TOLBY&amp;FLD=TSFDSP&amp;sort_fmt=2&amp;TopN=&amp;STATE=05&amp;COUNTY=05003&amp;chemical=All+chemicals&amp;year=2010&amp;report=&amp;BGCOLOR=%23D0E0FF&amp;FOREGCOLOR=black&amp;FONT_FACE=arial&amp;FONT_SIZE=10+pt&amp;FONT_WIDTH=normal&amp;FONT_STYLE=roman&amp;FONT_WEIGHT=bold">toxics release inventory</a> from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Crossett plant released over 913,000 pounds of toxic chemicals to the air in 2010 and another 136,000 pounds to nearby waterways, and buried over 444,000 pounds in the soil to degrade.</p>
<p> Among the chemicals that the plant emits to the air and water are known carcinogens such as formaldehyde and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as well as probable carcinogens including acetaldehyde and lead. In fact, the Crossett plant is the <a href="http://iaspub.epa.gov/triexplorer/release_fac?p_view=USFA&amp;trilib=TRIQ1&amp;TAB_RPT=1&amp;Fedcode=&amp;LINESPP=&amp;sort=E2&amp;industry=ALL&amp;FLD=E41&amp;FLD=E51A&amp;FLD=E51B&amp;FLD=STONDISP&amp;ONDISPD=Y&amp;FLD=E1&amp;FLD=E2&amp;FLD=E3&amp;FLD=E42&amp;FLD=E52&amp;FLD=E53A&amp;FLD=E53B&amp;FLD=E54&amp;FLD=STOTHDIS&amp;OTHDISPD=Y&amp;FLD=M81&amp;FLD=M65&amp;FLD=M64&amp;FLD=STOFFDIS&amp;OTHDISPD=Y&amp;FLD=E41&amp;FLD=E51A&amp;FLD=E51B&amp;FLD=STONDISP&amp;FLD=E1&amp;FLD=E2&amp;FLD=E3&amp;FLD=E42&amp;FLD=E52&amp;FLD=E53A&amp;FLD=E53B&amp;FLD=E54&amp;FLD=STOTHDIS&amp;FLD=M81&amp;FLD=M65&amp;FLD=M64&amp;FLD=STOFFDIS&amp;FLD=E41&amp;FLD=E51A&amp;FLD=E51B&amp;FLD=STONDISP&amp;FLD=E1&amp;FLD=E2&amp;FLD=E3&amp;FLD=E42&amp;FLD=E52&amp;FLD=E53A&amp;FLD=E53B&amp;FLD=E54&amp;FLD=STOTHDIS&amp;FLD=M81&amp;FLD=M65&amp;FLD=M64&amp;FLD=STOFFDIS&amp;FLD=RELLBY&amp;FLD=RE_TOLBY&amp;FLD=RE_TOLBY&amp;FLD=TSFDSP&amp;sort_fmt=2&amp;TopN=&amp;STATE=All+states&amp;COUNTY=All+counties&amp;chemical=000050000&amp;year=2010&amp;report=&amp;BGCOLOR=%23D0E0FF&amp;FOREGCOLOR=black&amp;FONT_FACE=arial&amp;FONT_SIZE=10+pt&amp;FONT_WIDTH=normal&amp;FONT_STYLE=roman&amp;FONT_WEIGHT=bold">39th-biggest air emitter of formaldehyde</a> in the U.S., while a <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/smokestack/school/4677">USA Today study</a> ranked Crossett in the top percentile of communities for schoolchildren's exposure to cancer-causing chemicals.</p>
<p> The Brave New Films video documents how residents of Penn Road in West Crossett, an African-American community close to the plant, are suffering from a host of respiratory problems and cancers that they link to pollution from the facility. The video is part of the group's Koch Brothers Exposed series, which earlier this year <a href="http://kochbrothersexposed.com/education/">looked at the Kochs' role in a battle over school resegregation</a> in Wake County, N.C. (I was among the reporters interviewed in that video.)</p>
<p>Brave New Films partnered on the latest video with the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, as the plant in question sits along the Ouachita River that flows from Arkansas into Louisiana. The groups are hoping to bring awareness to what's happening in Crossett and are calling for an investigation by the EPA and Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.</p>
<p> "Something is wrong on this street, Penn Road, where I live," David Bouie, a pastor and reserve deputy sheriff, says as the video opens. "Something is wrong here in this community."</p>
<p> Watch the full video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZWAQ_3yoj8&amp;feature=player_embedded#%21">here</a>:</p>
<p><object width="560" height="315" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/KZWAQ_3yoj8?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param name="data" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KZWAQ_3yoj8?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KZWAQ_3yoj8?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /></object></p>
<p><em>Sue Sturgis is an investigative reporter and editorial director of <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/">Facing South</a>, the online magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies.</em></p>
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<div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/19">Environment</a></div>
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Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:28:22 +0000Sue Sturgis482 at http://bridgethegulfproject.orghttp://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2011/koch-industries-plant-linked-cancer-epidemic-arkansas-community-video#commentsDespite health fears, trailers are housing tornado victimshttp://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2011/despite-health-fears-trailers-are-housing-tornado-victims
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p><img src="http://www.southernstudies.org/assets_c/2011/05/fema_trailer_alabama_tornado-thumb-250x187.jpg" alt="fema_trailer_alabama_tornado.jpg" width="250" height="187" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 20px 20px;" class="mt-image-right" /><strong><em>By Ariella Cohen, <a href="http://thelensnola.org/2011/05/19/fema-trailers-formaldehyde-katrina-rita-tuscaloosa-tornadoe/">The Lens</a></em>.</strong> Years after FEMA moved Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims out of formaldehyde and mold-infested trailers, the very same government-issue dwellings are once again sheltering disaster victims.</p>
<p>Bought at government auctions or from entrepreneurs reselling them, the trailers are appearing in increasing number along the path of the tornadoes that ravaged Alabama and other parts of the South last month. Jacked up on cinderblocks above severed tree limbs and piles of trash, the trailers cut a lean white silhouette eerily familiar to anyone who spent time in the Gulf Coast region in the past five and half years.</p>
<p>For many Katrina survivors, the sight of the trailers triggers memories of mysterious rashes, burning eyes and chronic breathing problems linked to the formaldehyde the trailers emit. Yet in Alabama, not even a federal ban on residential use of the trailers can curb the market for these low-cost housing units.</p>
<p>"They're livable," Tommy Ramsay, a retired truck driver said, standing next to the 8-foot by 32-foot Gulfstream travel trailer he moved into after a tornado tore his house off its foundation and dropped it some ten feet away. One of several trailer models manufactured specially for FEMA in the immediate aftermath of the deadly 2005 hurricanes, Ramsay's one-bathroom, two-bedroom Cavalier is marked with a serial number guaranteeing it was made in compliance with agency specifications. Ramsay got it from a family member who had bought it at an auction after that "Louisiana deal," he said, referring to the government's decision to condemn residential use of the trailers three years after rushing them into use by Katrina and Rita victims.</p>
<p>Ramsay said he was in the bath when the tornado flattened 40 percent of the houses in his tiny hometown of Phil Campbell, Ala. (population 1,000). Like many of his neighbors, Ramsay isn't sure if he will have the money to rebuild. "We're 65 years old," he said. "Are we going to rebuild or stay in a mobile home? It's a big decision that we can't make yet."</p>
<p>Even after the government banned residential use of Katrina-era FEMA trailers because of high formaldehyde levels, businesses are selling them -- and finding a market in disaster zones, and other places where people are desperate for low-cost housing.</p>
<p>Roughly 100 miles south of Phil Campbell, customers at a discount used car and recreational vehicle dealership on the outskirts of Birmingham mull variations on the same question. Last Saturday, a man in dirty blue jeans came in to take a look at the FEMA trailers advertised in a hand-written sign on the outlet's front window. "I need a home," he told a salesman. When asked why the dealership markets its Gulfstream Cavaliers by tapping into a bungled public program that ended with 40,000 trailer residents suing the government, Myles Smith points to its $2,500 price tag. "The average American is hurting, especially around here, around now," he said. "They need housing. People think they are saving money when they go with FEMA."</p>
<p><strong>From housing to hazard and back again</strong></p>
<p>The trailers -- which are selling in Alabama for between $2,000 and $4,000 -- traveled a long road before landing in the state's tornado-flattened neighborhoods. The journey began within weeks of the 2005 hurricanes, when several recreational vehicle manufacturers, including Gulfstream, received $2.7 billion in contracts from FEMA to supply 145,000 trailers for displaced Gulf coast residents. Gulfstream collected $521 million from FEMA for 50,000 of the bare-bones, aluminum-sided homes, according to federal documents.</p>
<p>Within months of moving in, residents began to report rashes, fatigue, burning eyes and problems breathing. They complained about feeling overwhelmed by the scent of formaldehyde. An industrial chemical commonly used to engineer wood, formaldehyde at high levels of exposure is a known carcinogen that can aggravate respiratory problems and weaken the immune system.</p>
<p>In June 2006, a Slidell, La. man was found dead in his trailer. He had complained about formaldehyde fumes for weeks before collapsing. By 2008, tests done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had shown the chemical present in trailers at rates anywhere from five to 40 times greater than average in most modern homes and at levels that exceeded federal workplace regulations. Officials told people to leave the trailers and after years of downplaying risks, finally committed to tightening chemical safety standards for mobile housing units.</p>
<p>Yet even with the trailers condemned at the policy level, federal officials were determined not to throw away the contaminated units, which had cost $1.7 billion to manufacture and another $75 million a year to store and maintain, according to FEMA.</p>
<p>In 2010, the General Services Administration began holding mass public auctions of the unneeded, and thoroughly troublesome, trailers. Heavy discounts reduced the price per unit to a small fraction of what FEMA paid in 2005. The fire-sale prices, however, came with a catch -- all buyers had to sign a waiver agreeing that the government cast-offs would not be used as housing and that each unit would be marked with a notice labeling it unfit to live in. The agreement also stipulated that if units were resold, the new owners must inform the purchaser that the units are not intended for housing. If the risks and regulations are not made clear, the seller is liable for penalties and even criminal charges that could result in a five-year prison sentence, FEMA spokeswoman Mary Olsen said. Vowing never again to use the same models of travel trailers, FEMA has also rewritten specifications for emergency housing to mandate units that are larger and have more ventilation.</p>
<p><strong>Toxic trailers on the open market</strong></p>
<p>But even as FEMA develops safer alternatives to the Katrina-era trailers, hundreds of companies and individuals remain heavily invested in the future of the contaminated units, thanks to the decision to sell the trailers to the public. Businesses small and large have spent a combined total of more than $279 million to put more than 130,000 trailers back on the market, where they are often sold multiple times and without the legally mandated warning against residential use.</p>
<p>Everyone who bought a FEMA trailer from the government was required to sign a waiver agreeing that the federal cast-offs would not be used as housing, and that each unit would be marked with a notice labeling it unfit to live in. On a recent Saturday, however, a large number of the 60 FEMA trailers on a dealer's lot in Alabama didn't have this notice. A quick tour of the lot revealed only one with a notice still affixed to it.</p>
<p>At the discount trailer dealership on the outskirts of Birmingham, Ala., salesman Myles Smith is well aware that some customers are buying trailers to live in. Of the 60 trailers on his lot, most are missing the legally mandated labels warning that they are unfit for habitation. The stickers were removed before the trailers reached his dealership, Smith said. But even if the trailers had stickers, Smith is not convinced potential buyers would be deterred. "You can write 'not for housing' all you want but if you need a place to live and the trailers are the most affordable option, that's what you're going to do," he said. "You can't spend what you don't have."</p>
<p>"I understand why the government did the stickers, but they know folks are going to live in them. That's what they made them for -- folks to live in," he added. He anticipates selling some of his remaining trailer stock in the next few months to tornado victims.</p>
<p>Several of the largest resale companies selling FEMA trailers to small outfits like Smith's are in the Gulf Coast region, where more than 53,521 trailers have changed hands for an aggregate price of more than $60 million. One of the resale companies, Timberline Homes Inc., spent upwards of $300,000 on 200 castoffs purchased at auction over the past several years, according to interviews and federal documents. The company, based in Brewton, Ala., makes no secret of the trailers' residential use.</p>
<p>"This is a home you can get set up for a few thousand dollars. For someone who just can't afford anything else, it's the way to go," said Winston Lindsey, the company's chief financial officer. Lindsey, like Smith, expects to sell most if not all of his remaining stock to people displaced by the tornados. "Once the FEMA checks start coming in, we'll see people," he said.</p>
<p>Nick Shapiro is a medical anthropologist and Oxford University doctoral candidate who has traveled across the United States interviewing buyers and sellers of the one-time emergency housing units.</p>
<p>"The trailers exhibit a desperate architecture and have a natural magnetism towards disaster," he said, "but they also reveal less concentrated and visible misfortunes as they gravitate to states like South Dakota, where there is a lot of rural poverty, and Florida, where there are high rates of foreclosure." Shapiro, like the dealers, expects the trailer trade to grow briskly as existing housing stock fills and tornado victims who can't afford rising rents search for low-cost alternatives.</p>
<p>The resellers say they don't worry about formaldehyde levels in the trailers. Over time, the chemical dissipates in the air and they say, given the passage of time, that FEMA travel trailers are likely no more dangerous than any other manufactured housing. "If you buy a brand-new trailer today it has formaldehyde too," trailer seller Smith said. "Clothes have formaldehyde. Everything does. After Katrina, it was an emergency situation so they didn't let the trailers air out enough. Now, they've had time to ventilate."</p>
<p>While science backs the claim that toxicity dissipates over time and with proper ventilation, there is no clear consensus on how exposure, even at low levels, affects people over the long term. Further complicating matters is the fact that all people have different chemical thresholds and very little research has been done on how toxins like formaldehyde affect people with varying health conditions. "We know senior citizens, those already exposed to high levels of formaldehyde, and children can be more sensitive but beyond that, there are a multitude of variables that make it difficult to generalize," Shapiro said.</p>
<p>Research has also found that symptoms can be caused by dangerous levels of mold, which grows quickly in trailers because of high indoor moisture levels and lack of ventilation.</p>
<p>Given the uncertain risks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that the trailers be used only as short-term, temporary housing, no matter how long they've had to ventilate. "These units weren't designed or built for people to live in for two and a half years," Dr. Michael McGeehin, director of CDC's Environmental Hazards and Health Effects Division, testified at a 2008 congressional hearing on the FEMA trailers.</p>
<p>The courts have had no easier time establishing the cause of alleged health effects. In 2008 a federal judge denied class-action status to lawsuits filed on behalf of trailer residents alleging exposure to toxins. U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt ruled that the suits can't be handled as a class action because each person's claim is unique and must be examined individually. Of the thousands of legal claims, some have resulted in settlements for residents while others, including several high-profile, precedent-setting cases, have favored the trailer manufacturers; thousands more are still being litigated.</p>
<p>"The causality is difficult to prove," said Stephen Stetson, a policy analyst for Alabama Arise, a coalition of 50 congregations and community groups that promote fairer state policies toward low-income Alabamians. "The manufacturers say these people were not in good health before. But I go back to the congressional hearing where the manufacturers themselves admitted these were unsafe."</p>
<p><strong>Low bid, high risk</strong></p>
<p>On a rainy morning in late April, neat white rows of used travel trailers and recreational vehicles stretched across a former racetrack north of Lafayette, La. Amid the sea of trailers, about 500 people had gathered under a big circus tent set up by the auctioneer.</p>
<p>In the past three years, Henderson has paid the government $18 million for 23,636 trailers, and hundreds of them -- most lacking stickers condemning their use as housing -- were going on the block that day in Lafayette.</p>
<p>In promotional and sales materials, Henderson Auctions warns potential buyers that trailers are not meant to be used as housing but most of its trailers are sold without the legally mandated notices.</p>
<p>As the auction heated up, small children sipped cans of soda and tugged on the hands of parents focused intently on the bidding. Men dressed in loafers and loose jeans -- Bayou business casual -- jotted notes on clipboards. Middle-aged couples looked on nervously as prices inched upwards.</p>
<p>In a dozen interviews over the course of the day, buyers said that the risk of formaldehyde poisoning was trumped by home economics. "I was staying away from the Cavaliers because of the things I've heard about them, but now, with everything but wages going up, you can't help but think about it as a backup in case I lose my job and can't pay my mortgage," prospective buyer Juanita Tabb said. Meanwhile, her family plans to use the trailer for camping, she said.</p>
<p>Henderson Auctions did not return repeated requests for comment. In the past, however, company representatives have told reporters that they cannot control what their buyers do with the trailers. "They're not to be used for permanent housing, which is not what we're selling them for... We're selling them for recreational use," the company's chief financial officer Mike Cagley said in an interview with a reporter from KATC news in Lafayette.</p>
<p><strong>A hard choice: health or housing</strong></p>
<p>New Orleans resident Earl Kimble never needed chronic medical care before Hurricane Katrina. Less than a decade later, he relies on three different kinds of throat clearers, two anti-itch eye solutions and one antibiotic for recurring infections. His wife, a self-identified "neat freak" who on a recent Monday could be found scrubbing mold off windowsills in their five-year-old FEMA trailer, takes similar medications. Bottles of Nyquil and bacteria-cleaning Clorox bleach line the unit's small kitchen table.</p>
<p>Itchy eyes, a persistent bronchial cough and constant fatigue have become a part of life in the years since the couple and their daughter moved into a FEMA trailer while saving to buy a new home.</p>
<p>Kimble is grateful to have his Mid-City trailer to live in but says the years in the 32-foot Cavalier have weakened him and his family. "It's not getting better, it's getting worse," he said. "I never had bronchitis before. Now I have severe bronchitis. Me, my wife and my daughter, we cough all the time."</p>
<p>Kimble did not participate in the lawsuit against the trailer manufacturers and FEMA because he did not want to take the chance that the litigation would result in his family losing the trailer which had become their home. "We stayed and took the risk," he said. "Sometimes though I wake up coughing and wonder if it was worth it."</p>
<p><em>To report illegal trailer use, call the Inspector General of the General Services Administration at (800) 424-5210. Photo of a travel trailer standing beside the foundation of a house struck by the recent tornado In the town of Phil Campbell, Ala., by Ariella Cohen.</em></p>
<p><strong><em>Crossposted from <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/05/despite-health-fears-trailers-are-housing-tornado-victims.html">Facing South</a>. </em></strong></p>
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Tue, 24 May 2011 17:04:23 +0000Bridge The Gulf366 at http://bridgethegulfproject.orghttp://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2011/despite-health-fears-trailers-are-housing-tornado-victims#commentsWHAT SPILL? Congress has done 'virtually nothing' to address issues raised by BP disasterhttp://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2011/what-spill-congress-has-done-virtually-nothing-address-issues-raised-bp-disaster
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p><strong><img src="http://www.southernstudies.org/assets_c/2010/05/bp_oil_slick_fire_vert-thumb-250x240.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 8px;" />By Chris Kromm, <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/04/what-spill-congress-has-done-virtually-nothing-to-address-issues-raised-by-bp-spill.html"><em>Facing South</em></a></strong>. When BP's Deepwater Horizon rig catastrophically failed nearly a year ago, it unleashed a gusher of wall-to-wall media coverage -- and promises from politicians of reform.</p>
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style "><a class="addthis_button_preferred_1 addthis_button_facebook at300b" title="Send to Facebook" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&amp;winname=addthis&amp;pub=xa-4da3282b77760fd9&amp;source=tbx-250&amp;lng=en&amp;s=facebook&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.southernstudies.org%2F2011%2F04%2Fwhat-spill-congress-has-done-virtually-nothing-to-address-issues-raised-by-bp-spill.html&amp;title=ISS%20-%20WHAT%20SPILL%3F%20Congress%20has%20done%20%27virtually%20nothing%27%20to%20address%20issues%20raised%20by%20BP%20disaster&amp;ate=AT-xa-4da3282b77760fd9/-/-/4da4b20220106def/1/4bf1863d04c318a4&amp;uid=4bf1863d04c318a4&amp;CXNID=2000001.5215456080540439074NXC&amp;pre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.southernstudies.org%2F&amp;tt=0" target="_blank"><span class="at300bs at15nc at15t_facebook"></span></a> <a class="addthis_button_preferred_2 addthis_button_twitter at300b" title="Tweet This" href="http://www.southernstudies.org/mt-static/html/editor-content.html?cs=utf-8" target="_blank"><span class="at300bs at15nc at15t_twitter"></span></a> <a class="addthis_button_preferred_3 addthis_button_print at300b" title="Print" href="http://www.southernstudies.org/mt-static/html/editor-content.html?cs=utf-8"><span class="at300bs at15nc at15t_print"></span></a> <a class="addthis_button_preferred_4 addthis_button_google at300b" title="Send to Google" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&amp;winname=addthis&amp;pub=xa-4da3282b77760fd9&amp;source=tbx-250&amp;lng=en&amp;s=google&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.southernstudies.org%2F2011%2F04%2Fwhat-spill-congress-has-done-virtually-nothing-to-address-issues-raised-by-bp-spill.html&amp;title=ISS%20-%20WHAT%20SPILL%3F%20Congress%20has%20done%20%27virtually%20nothing%27%20to%20address%20issues%20raised%20by%20BP%20disaster&amp;ate=AT-xa-4da3282b77760fd9/-/-/4da4b20220106def/2/4bf1863d04c318a4&amp;uid=4bf1863d04c318a4&amp;CXNID=2000001.5215456080540439074NXC&amp;pre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.southernstudies.org%2F&amp;tt=0" target="_blank"><span class="at300bs at15nc at15t_google"></span></a> <a class="addthis_button_compact at300m" href="http://www.southernstudies.org/mt-static/html/editor-content.html?cs=utf-8"><span class="at300bs at15nc at15t_compact"></span></a>Indeed, <a href="http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-01/entertainment/cnn.peabody.award_1_bp-oil-spill-deepwater-horizon-coverage?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ">CNN just won a Peabody Award</a> for its "extensive coverage" of the disaster which pumped over 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico.</div>
<p>But Congress won't be earning high marks for its response to the spill: As <a href="http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2011/04/a_year_after_gulf_oil_spill_co.html">the New Orleans Times-Picayune documents in a stinging report</a>, "Congress has done virtually nothing to address the issues raised by the oil spill -- from industry liability limits, to regulatory reform, to coastal restoration, to broader issues of energy policy."</p>
<p>Among the evidence marshaled in the paper's stinging assessment:</p>
<ul><li>After the BP disaster, 101 bills were introduced to address the problems raised by the spilll; of those, <a href="http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2011/04/a_year_after_gulf_oil_spill_co.html">only 15 remain</a>, and those have little hope of passage.</li>
<li>None of the key recommendations of the <a href="http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/">National Oil Spill Commission</a> created in the wake of the disaster have been implemented, including their call for an independent safety agency to oversee oil drilling.</li>
<li>Last year, the U.S. House passed a bill creating new standards for blowout preventers -- the safety device that the commission says failed in the BP disaster -- as well as increased fines for regulation violations and implemented new ethics rules. But it was <a href="http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2011/04/a_year_after_gulf_oil_spill_co.html">never taken up in the U.S. Senate</a> due to opposition from Republicans and wavering Democrats.</li>
<li>A more modest bill from Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) to increase the liability limit beyond $75 million and channel money from BP's fines to coastal restoration never made it to the floor last year.</li>
</ul><p>Other proposals <a href="http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2011/04/a_year_after_gulf_oil_spill_co.html">dead in the water</a>: Legislation to give the oil spill commission subpoena power like other investigative commissions, and a bill allowing families of the 11 rig workers killed in the BP explosion to collect damages comparable to those allowed for land-based accidents -- which failed after a lone senator objected.</p>
<p>Why the lack of action? One of the biggest factors was a stepped-up lobbying push from the already powerful energy lobby, which <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/08/post-2.html">spent $75 million between January and June 2010 alone</a> to stave off new regulations.</p>
<p>While Democrats shoulder the blame for failing to pass legislation last year when they held majorities in the house and senate, they have joined with environmentalists in criticizing the new Republican house leadership for being hostile to any new regulations. </p>
<p>In fact, the new GOP leaders -- who <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/01/bp-spill-commissioners-face-congressional-committees-awash-in-oil-money.html">enjoy generous backing from energy companies</a> -- have pledged to roll back regulations and push for more drilling. </p>
<p>This week, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA), chair of the House Natural Resource Committee, is <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/155149-the-week-ahead-drilling-bills-on-deck-in-the-house">introducing legislation</a> that would open up new areas to offshore oil-and-gas exploration and speed up the permitting process for drilling in the Gulf.</p>
<p>As Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) -- whose has introduced a bill seen by Gulf Coast advocates and reformers as the last hope for change, but which has almost no chance of passing -- <a href="http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2011/04/a_year_after_gulf_oil_spill_co.html">told the Times-Picayune</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>"Nearly a year after the BP blowout ... Republicans in the House and Senate are acting as if the accident never happened. Amazingly, House Republicans are trying to pass legislation that would speed up drilling, lessen safety, and give new subsidies to oil companies while preserving billions of dollars in existing tax breaks. We should be reviewing the lessons of the BP disaster, not lessening safety review. Republicans wouldn't be pushing this agenda if the oil industry weren't pushing them to do so."</p></blockquote>
<p>Another culprit in Washington's inaction: The fading media attention to the spill as time wears on and other disasters, like Japan's earthquake and resulting nuclear plant catastrophes, seize headlines.</p>
<p>But Gulf Coast advocates hope that will change later this month, as the media memorializes the BP disaster one year after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf.</p>
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Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:15:18 +0000Bridge The Gulf311 at http://bridgethegulfproject.orghttp://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2011/what-spill-congress-has-done-virtually-nothing-address-issues-raised-bp-disaster#commentsGulf Coast restoration task force hearing showcases residents' distrusthttp://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2011/gulf-coast-restoration-task-force-hearing-showcases-residents-distrust
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p><img src="http://www.southernstudies.org/assets_c/2011/03/lisa_jackson_gertf_nola-thumb-250x186.png" alt="lisa_jackson_gertf_nola.png" title="Lisa Jackson of the Gulf Restoration Task Force" width="250" height="186" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 20px 20px;" class="mt-image-right" /><strong><em>By Sue Sturgis, <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/03/gulf-coast-restoration-task-force-hearing-showcases-residents-distrust.html">Facing South</a></em></strong>. The president's <a href="http://www.restorethegulf.gov/task-force/">Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force</a> met [on Monday] in New Orleans to gather public comments for the plan it's working on to restore the region's ecology in the wake of last year's BP catastrophe. </p>
<p>A major theme of those comments was the deep distrust that many of the region's residents feel toward their government -- a feeling that began for many in the wake of Hurricane Katrina disaster and only deepened after the oil spill.</p>
<p>"People have been hurt so much," said Patty Whitney of <a href="http://bisco-la.org/home">Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing</a>, which works in Southeast Louisiana's Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, an area hit hard by Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike. "We've don't trust anybody."</p>
<p>Many Louisiana residents at the forum questioned the task force's assurances that Gulf seafood is safe to eat, with some saying they wouldn't feed it to their families. </p>
<p>In conversations outside the main meeting room, fishermen reported seeing oil slicks in areas of the Gulf currently open for fishing. They also reported unusual problems with various species: crabs so weak they die before they get to the dock, crabs with holes in their shells, shrimp with lesions.</p>
<p>"People that have been doing this all their lives have never seen this before," said Mike Roberts, who has worked as a fisherman for over 35 years and is also a founder of the <a href="http://www.waterkeeper.org/ht/d/OrganizationDetails/i/507">Louisiana Bayoukeeper</a> program.</p>
<p>The task force, which is headed by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, hopes to have a first draft of its plan by early May with the final version due by Oct. 4. The plan will address the effects of the BP blowout as well as Louisiana's longstanding problem with coastal erosion.</p>
<p>"This task force was created out of a horrible event," said Jackson. "But it has to go beyond that and look to the future."</p>
<p>In one session that brought members of the state's nongovernmental organizations together to share their thoughts and ideas, people talked about what it would take for them to regain trust and feel respected. </p>
<p>"Big business, oil and gas -- they always win," said Whitney. "If once in a while the people won, that would change things."</p>
<p>(<em>For more information on submitting comments to the task force, click <a href="http://www.restorethegulf.gov/task-force/about-task-force/about-task-force">here</a>. Photo of Lisa Jackson at the task force meeting by Ada McMahon of <a href="http://bridgethegulfproject.org/">Bridge the Gulf</a>.)</em></p>
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<div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/19">Environment</a></div>
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Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:24:40 +0000Bridge The Gulf275 at http://bridgethegulfproject.orghttp://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2011/gulf-coast-restoration-task-force-hearing-showcases-residents-distrust#commentsScientists found chemical dispersants lingering in Gulf long after oil flow stoppedhttp://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2011/scientists-found-chemical-dispersants-lingering-gulf-long-after-oil-flow-stopped
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p><em>Chemical compounds from the oil dispersants applied to the Gulf of Mexico <a href="http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=7545&amp;tid=282&amp;cid=89188&amp;ct=162">didn't break down as expected</a><span class="print-only"> </span>, according to a study released this week. <strong>By Marian Wang, <a href="http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/scientists-find-chemical-dispersants-lingering-in-gulf-long-after-oil-stopp">ProPublica</a> (Crossposted from <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/01/scientists-found-chemical-dispersants-lingering-in-gulf-long-after-oil-flow-stopped.html">Facing South</a>)</strong></em></p>
<p>Chemical compounds from the oil dispersants applied to the Gulf of Mexico <a href="http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=7545&amp;tid=282&amp;cid=89188&amp;ct=162">didn't break down as expected</a><span class="print-only"> </span>, according to a study released this week. Scientists found the compounds lingering for months in the deep waters of the Gulf, long after BP's oil had stopped spewing.</p>
<p>"The results indicate that an important component of the chemical dispersant injected into the oil in the deep ocean remained there, and resisted rapid biodegradation," said scientist David Valentine of U.C. Santa Barbara, one of the investigators in the study.</p>
<p>The findings contrast with what the Environmental Protection Agency has asserted about the dispersants, which the agency allowed BP to use in unprecedented quantities.</p>
<p>"We do have information about the individual components of the dispersant," the EPA <a href="http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/dispersants-qanda.html#general">says on its website</a><span class="print-only"></span>. "The available peer-reviewed literature indicates that the components biodegrade fairly rapidly."</p>
<p>The information about the components in the dispersant, it's worth noting, was provided to the agency by the dispersant manufacturer. As <a href="http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/dispersant-hearing-focuses-on-agencies-flimsy-approval-process">we've pointed out</a><span class="print-only"></span>, the EPA also relied on the manufacturer to provide data on the dispersant's toxicity and approved it for use in the Gulf without doing independent testing.</p>
<p>The study's investigators emphasized that the dispersants' effects remain largely unknown.</p>
<p>"We still don't know just how serious the threat is," said Valentine. "The deep ocean is a sensitive ecosystem unaccustomed to chemical irruptions like this."</p>
<p>In the aftermath of the spill, the EPA concluded that the use of dispersants was a "<a href="http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/epa-dispersant-and-oil-about-the-same-as-oil-alone-except-underwater">wise decision</a><span class="print-only"></span>." Agency scientists had reported that <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/01/26/107507/study-finds-oil-dispersants-lingered.html">no dispersants</a><span class="print-only"></span> were detected in waters near the Gulf shore, according to McClatchy.</p>
<p>The research was funded by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the National Science Foundation.</p>
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Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:06:08 +0000Bridge The Gulf237 at http://bridgethegulfproject.orghttp://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2011/scientists-found-chemical-dispersants-lingering-gulf-long-after-oil-flow-stopped#commentsIndependent tests find oil spill contamination in Louisiana oysters and crabshttp://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2010/independent-tests-find-oil-spill-contamination-louisiana-oysters-and-crabs
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p><img src="http://www.bridgethegulfproject.org/sites/default/files/u13/subra-orr-lean-sampling-thumb-250x242.jpg" alt="subra testing" width="250" height="242" style="float: right; margin: 10px;" /><em>By Sue Sturgis. Crossposted from <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/08/independent-tests-find-oil-spill-contamination-in-louisiana-oysters-and-crabs.html">Facing South</a>.</em><br />Tests performed earlier this month by an environmental scientist found significant levels of oil pollution from the BP disaster in oysters and crabs collected along the Gulf of Mexico's Louisiana coastline. </p>
<p>Working with the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) and the Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper, <a href="http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1142725/k.2948/Fellows_List__July_1999.htm">award-winning chemist Wilma Subra</a> took samples of soil, vegetation, blue crabs, fiddler crabs and oysters in areas affected by pollution from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://leanweb.org/news/latest/testing-results-returning-with-high-levels.html">test results</a> showed the presence of hydrocarbons corresponding to those from the spill in the soil and vegetation. They also showed high levels of hydrocarbons in sea life. Hydrocarbon exposure has been <a href="http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/phs123.html">linked to health problems</a> including disorders of the nervous and immune systems, blood, liver, kidneys and lungs, as well as cancer. </p>
<p> Oysters collected from a reef on Oyster Bayou in Louisiana's Atchafalaya Bay contained 8,815 milligrams/kilogram of hydrocarbons, Subra reports. Samples of blue crab and fiddler crab collected from the same area contained 2,230 mg/kg of hydrocarbons. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, oysters collected between Pass-a-Loutre and Redfish Bay -- the area where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf -- contained 12,500 mg/kg of hydrocarbons, or about 1.25 percent of their total weight, according to Subra. </p>
<p>Earlier this month, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals released a <a href="http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov/offices/publications/pubs-206/SeafoodUpdate_8_9.pdf">seafood safety surveillance report</a> [pdf] that did not detect concentrations of any specific hydrocarbons above levels of concern.</p>
<p> Public oyster grounds in Atchafalaya Bay are set to open on Nov. 15, according to a <a href="http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20100805/FEATURES12/100809597/-1/sports?p=all&amp;tc=pgall">recent announcement</a> from the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission. </p>
<p>Some fishermen from Gulf states have raised concerns that the Gulf fishing bans imposed following the BP disaster are being <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/08/some-gulf-fishermen-protest-re-opening-of-fishing-grounds.html">lifted prematurely</a>. Subra's findings add to those worries, as do recent tests that <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/mississippi-sound-tests-positive-oil62735">found significant concentrations of oil</a> off the coast of Mississippi, which re-opened all of its territorial waters to fishing earlier this month. </p>
<p>"As state and federal officials continue to open Gulf waters to fishing, we have to again point to evidence that the 'all clear' is being sounded way too early," says Stuart Smith, an attorney who represents both LEAN and the United Commercial Fishermen's Association. "One of the cautionary notes is that our experts have documented that toxic chemicals remain in the water and food chain -- and pose a significant health risk." </p>
<p>Smith estimates that it could take as long as eight months for the oil spill pollution to biodegrade enough for seafood from the region to be declared safe to eat. </p>
<p>In the meantime, the public can now examine sampling data compiled by LEAN and the <a href="http://www.gulfoildisasterrecovery.com/web/">Gulf Oil Disaster Recovery</a>, an information clearinghouse created by independent law firms representing BP disaster victims. The website -- <a href="http://bostonchemicaldata.com/LEAN/">bostonchemicaldata.com/LEAN</a> -- provides oil spill data and mapping resources. The site is maintained by Boston Chemical Data Corp., a Massachusetts-based firm that provides environmental investigation services. </p>
<p>"This website allows anyone interested to see what chemicals were found, where they were found, and how much was found," <a href="http://leanweb.org/news/latest/press-release-public-website-created-for-examination-of-environmental-sampling-data.html">says</a> LEAN Executive Director Marylee Orr. "We feel the public has the right to this information." <em></em></p>
<p>(LEAN photo of environmental chemist Wilma Subra and Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper Paul Orr collecting samples in the Mississippi River Delta.)</p>
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Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:55:18 +0000Bridge The Gulf88 at http://bridgethegulfproject.orghttp://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2010/independent-tests-find-oil-spill-contamination-louisiana-oysters-and-crabs#comments